Because many in the US allowed Palestinians to demand “their” land back, Mexicans are pulling the same stunt in LA.
During the many days of riots and looting in Los Angeles, a new theme has emerged. I saw one illegal alien who looked like the Mexican version of the Michelin Man. It almost required two cameras to film him. He chirped that where he was standing was actually Mexico. This idea would at least explain the Mexican flags. It’s unusual for rioters to hold the flag of the country they want to avoid while they burn the flag of the country where they want to stay. But the big guy cleared everything up: this was not California, USA; it was downtown Mexico. Apparently, he needs a history lesson, but it will not help.
The Mexican-American War was a complex undertaking, and one can read up for details. In the end, the US was victorious, and a treaty was signed. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in 1848, gave the US Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, most of New Mexico, and parts of several other states. The US paid Mexico, which became an independent country in 1821, $15 million and covered another $3.25 million in debt owed to US citizens. Until this past week, everyone seemed to accept the war's outcome and the treaty's terms. Mexico was famously offered these lands back by Germany if it would attack the US during World War 1 (the Zimmerman Telegram). The land given over to the US after the war was about one-third of all of Mexico’s territory.
So that should be the end of it. There was a war, the US effectively won, and the final outcome was a massive addition of real estate to the United States, with the payment in cash to the Mexican government. Doesn’t our tire salesman know this history? Of course, he does, more or less. But he doesn’t accept it. And why? Because of Israel.
Until the modern state of Israel, the law of nations was that whoever won a war got the land they took. For 80 years, the Japanese have, in vain, tried to get Russia to cough up the land that the Red Army took at the tail end of World War 2. No other country is pushing Russia to part with Sakhalin Island and other territories because the Russians took it fair and square. If you wanted a piece of land or it back, you had to make war and win. That was pretty much accepted until Israel came on the scene. When Israel made its stunning victories in the Six Day War, the map makers did not rush out to print new maps with Israel stretching from the Sinai to the Golan Heights. No. There was a brand new, Israel-only law of war: where Israel is concerned, even in defensive wars, she has to give back the land she took. Israel gave back Sinai for a cold peace with Egypt. The Sinai had great diving, oil, strategic bases, and most importantly, the border with Gaza, to prevent weapons from getting there. Israel gave up Gaza only to have many Jews killed by the Gazans left there. Israel, until now, has been expected to give up the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the holy sites. While the Trump administration recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, another administration could change that policy. Whenever Israel won, it was told that the land was not hers and she had to give it back. That was a major disaster for Israel—and now for the West.
Based on the Israeli precedent, who cares if some musty old treaty is sitting in the Smithsonian Museum? We are going back to pre-1846, when all of the southern US, including California, belonged to Mexico. Why should treaties and war outcomes limit us? We don’t like those outcomes, so yes, Los Angeles is now Mexico again. The president of Mexico’s senate even held up a map showing the US southwest as once again Mexican. It all fits the pattern of these brainless “land acknowledgments” that are so popular that even King Charles said that the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa is sitting on Algonquin land. The King or his prime minister did not really offer to give it back; that’s the next step. Once you buy into a place that is not yours, you have already set yourself up to give up the property either by lawfare or guilt. Maybe Spain will trump Mexico and remind the world that it owned California until 1821, a period longer than Mexico or the US.
For a long time, someone in Jerusalem had a big banner outside his place. It had the image of an American Indian on it and stated, “Once you [the US] give your land back, we [Israel] will give back ours.” The US landmass is a combination of purchases and war outcomes. Nobody, until recently, thought to question the integrity of the US or the existence of the country as 50 states. But our Michelin amigo says otherwise. “LA is Mexico!” he thunders because he hasn't bought the war and treaty from so long ago. It was once Mexico, and it will always be Mexico. If this reasoning continues, don’t expect American Indians to sit on their hands—they, too, will demand certain chunks of the US be returned to them, as occurred in Oklahoma. The US should get back to a winners-keepers model, including for Israel. One might claim that wars of conquest, such as those of Vladimir Putin, are amenable to retroactive rebalancing. But just as the US took Japanese conquered lands and held them for quite some time after World War 2, Israel should be allowed to keep all land, including Gaza, taken in defensive wars.
The West questioned Israel’s right to land taken with blood and treasure in defensive actions. Now, the illegal aliens are questioning if they are illegal or the Americans residing in old Mexico are the real law-breakers.
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